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India's ruling Hindu nationalist party is pursuing a campaign to revise history and remove historic Islamic monuments from cities like Varanasi, known for its multicultural fabric.

The impressive performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal is seen as a turning point in state politics—a saffron surge and the red retreat. While trying to understand and explain the rise of the BJP, this article analyzes Hindutva politics in West Bengal in a historical perspective, highlighting the ideological and organizational legacies of the Hindu Mahasabha, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Sangh Parivar. Hindutva's political ambition always remained frustrated as the objective ideological and political milieu in a hostile Communist bastion had never been congenial to its brand of politics. Yet, the BJP continued to struggle for its existence, adopted pragmatic political strategies at the local and regional level, entered into smart political alliance with the Trinamool Congress at a crucial time, grabbed the opportunity to expand its base rapidly when the Left lost its credibility and political control and, finally, when Mamata started messing up with her support base. Buoyed by the BJP's rise in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hindutva forces have unleashed an ambitious and aggressive campaign to wrest West Bengal from Mamata's Trinamool Congress in the 2016 assembly elections; thus, West Bengal is likely to witness a fierce political battle in the coming days!

This volume explores how the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won the 2014 Parliamentary elections with such an unprecedented majority, and what that victory means for politics in general and Indian politics in particular. It opens up space for new theoretical and methodological reflections on electoral democracy, critically taking on such salient issues as development, terrorism, charisma, media, new mechanisms of mobilisation, nationalism, rumour, religion, regionalism, polarisation, space, Muslim vote, and caste. This volume is distinct in its ability to focus squarely on the empirical acts of voting. It sociologically and historically examines the enduring as well as changing institutional, social, political, and cultural landscapes in which voting takes place.

List of Plates -- List of Abbreviations -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction/Daniela Berti -- PART I: Hindutva-affi liated Organisations and Local Mediators -- 1. Music and Politics in Kerala: Hindu Nationalists Versus Marxists/Christine -- 2. The Local Enactment of Hindutva: Writing Stories on Local Gods in Himachal Pradesh/Daniela Berti -- 3. Casting Community, Culture and Faith: Hindutva's Entrenchment in Arunachal Pradesh/Pralay Kanungo -- 4. The Shakha and the Mandal: The Shiv Sena, 'Popular Culture' and People's Associations in Mumbai/Djallal G. -- PART II: Convergence, Gurus and Sects -- 5. Health, Yoga and the Nation: Dr Karandikar and the Yoga Therapy Centre, Pune, Maharashtra/Anne-Cécile Hoyez -- 6. On the Margins of Hindutva: The Krishna Pranâmî Sect in Nepal and India/Gérard Toffin -- 7. In the Image of Jhulelal: Sindhi Hindus, Humanitarian Action and Hindu Nationalism/Frédérique Pagani -- 8. Social Services, Muscular Hinduism and Implicit Militancy in West Bengal: The Case of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha/Raphaël Voix -- PART III: Entrenchment amidst -- 9. The Symbolism of Krishna in Uttar Pradesh Politics in the 1990s: Understanding the 'Normalisation' of Hindutva in North India/Lucia Michelutti -- 10. Casting the 'Sweepers': Local Politics of Sanskritisation, Caste and Labour/Nicolas Jaoul -- 11. The Boa and its Petty Enemy: Contemporary Relationships between Hindu Nationalists and the Sikhs/Christine Moliner -- About the Editors -- Notes on Contributors -- Index.

Contributed articles presented at an international conference, organized by Indian Council of Social Science Research, National Center for Scientific Research, France and the French Foundation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, paris, held at New Delhi

River Cities in Asia uncovers the intimate relationship between rivers and cities in Asia from a multi-disciplinary perspective in the humanities and the social sciences. As rivers have shaped human settlement patterns, economies, culture and rituals, so too have humans impacted the flow and health of rivers. In Asia, the sheer scale of urbanization increases the urgency of addressing challenges facing urban rivers, leading to the importance of historically, socially, and culturally relevant solutions. However, cities are also uneven landscapes of power, affecting chances to achieve holistic ecological approaches. The central premise of River Cities in Asia is that a "river city" is one where proximity between a river and a city exists across time and space, natural and social dimensions. Recognition of these deep connections can help to better contextualize policy solutions aimed at rivers and their ecologies, including human life